Celebrating their victory, Coyote runners stand as the 2015 Summit League Cross Champions after the 6,000-meter race. The men’s cross country team also placed fourth in the 8,000-meter race. Dave Eggon Inertia Sports Photography / The Volante

Women’s cross-country team comes out on top in championship

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The USD women’s cross-country team earned its second Summit League Championship this past weekend in Brookings.

It was about 54 degrees at the Edgebook Golf Course when the gun shot off on Halloween day.

“All year long we had a target on our back, everybody knew our top three runners were our strong point,” Dan Fitzsimmons said in a video interview on goyotes.com.

However, it wasn’t just three runners that stepped up – five did.

Senior Amber Eichkorn took second place, right behind North Dakota State’s junior Erin Teschuk clocking in at 21:07.

Senior Kelsey Barrett clocked in at 21:46 coming in fourth place and senior Katie Wetzstein came in eighth place, clocking in at 21:59.

Junior Nicole Schmidt came in 11th place, while first-year Megan Billington finished in 13th place with a time of 22:47.

While the women were just starting their race, the men had just finished.

South Dakota State’s Trent Lusigan came in first place and was crowned Summit League Champion.

USD’s senior Mubarik Musa led his team finishing in 4th place, with a time of 24:49, and senior Isaac Allen made all-conference with his 11th place performance. Sophomore Brice Cowman came in third for the team and 21st overall with a time of 25:52.

Ultimately, IUPUI ended up winning in the team standings, while USD came in 4th out of seven teams.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the Regional meet coming up on Nov. 13.